Written In The Stars
by dearestpersephone
Summary: There is always something that has been lacking in Hermione Granger's life, and she finds it as she enters Slytherin House hand in hand with Harry Potter. Pureblood politics hadn't prepared the Snakes nearly enough for the little Muggleborn girl that soon fell into their nest. (Slytherin AU) [important notice inside]
1. Intro

_when they told her her story was written in the stars_  
 _she went to the heavens and crushed each one with her bare_  
 _hands,_  
 _stars have no power over her,_  
 _the night sky is hers now,_  
 _and she will care it with constellations of her own_  
 _\- never tell a goddess her fate / k.s_


	2. I

**Chapter One**

 _We are the granddaughters of the witches you weren't able to burn._

* * *

The girl next to him showed no acknowledgement of his arrival, only continued to turn the pages of her book as Harry sat at the library desk, adding a pile of books next to the stack that rested in front of the girl.

"I managed to avoid Dudley again today." he says softly, for rarely did he ever use a tone of voice above a whisper.

"I know." The girl still did not look up from her book, her eyes still scanning line after line, drinking in the words. "You aren't late today. And anyway," As she paused, she looked at Harry out of the corner of her eyes, "You only need to say my name and the fat pig will run for the hills."

Harry laughed quietly, thinking of the last time he had uttered the name _Hermione Granger_ in front of the Dursleys. Vernon had turned the same shade as his beefy mustache, and Petunia had looked like a mess of sticks as she tried to make her bony frame curl in on itself. Dudley had let out a terrified squeak and had thrown a terrified glance around the room, as if saying her name had magically brought her into their living room.

Hermione Granger was only 10, and yet she had what could be considered full power over his relatives. Not a day went by where he thanked whatever lucky stars he had that she had made friends with him and not his cousin. She was smart, _brilliant_ , and too cross her was to take your last breath. Not literally of course, since she was only 10, but still enough that she could get you in some serious trouble.

The two friends remained in the library until well after four, time for them to begin their walk home before Hermione was required to be home at five. She always walked him home, the two reasons being that it was simply convenient, her house was just two streets away, and that it gave her a chance to make sure Dudley and his gang never tried to terrorize Harry on his way home. It was simply a bonus if Petunia saw he and turned that sickly shade and darted away from the window.

Today was, quite pleasantly, a Bonus day, and the anthropomorphic giraffe slammed the curtain shut as forcefully as she could upon sight of Hermione. waving goodbye to Harry with a promise to see him at school the next morning, the young Granger continued on.

"Mum, I'm back!" She calls once she's inside the house, and her shoes are being taken off and her coat hung in the closet.

"We're in the parlor, dear." her mother responds, and Hermione pads into the front room of her home.

Awaiting her, however, is not just her parents, but a tall and formidable looking woman wearing green... _things_ that looks liked they had been stolen from one of Hermione's fairytale books.

The woman stands upon her entrance, holding out her hand for Hermione to shake. "Professor Minerva McGonagall. You must be Hermione."

Hermione only nods dumbly, utterly confused. She returns the handshake and takes a seat next to her father on the sofa.

"As I was telling your parents before you arrived, I am a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to which you have been accepted as a student for the upcoming term in September." the Professor summarizes for Hermione, having clearly been sitting with her parents for some time. Her teacup was nearly empty after all.

"Witchcraft and Wizardry…" The brown haired girl says slowly, stealing a look at her parents. "I don't understand. Magic does not exist outside of _books_."

"Oh, I assure you Miss Granger, Magic is undoubtedly _real._ " The woman turns to her parents, and gestures

with the now empty teacup in her hand.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger, unfortunately having been introduced to the information of their daughter being a _witch_ and magic being _real_ through their couch cushions becoming _crystal goblets_ , sighed out an affirmation.

" _Muscifors."_ The strange Professor tapped the teacup with a wooden _stick_ and suddenly, instead of a blue and white teacup from Harrod's, a while _mouse_ lay in her palm.

Hermione looked like she wanted to argue, before pausing, opening her mouth again, and then clamping it shut. "Magic is real." She said it as it were a fact, as if she had no other explanation and that this was all she could come up with. And truly, it was.

"Yes, precisely." McGonagall smiles, "And you, are a witch. You will be able to to do these spells as well in time. _Finite Incantatem."_ The mouse turned back into the teacup with a tap of her stick, no, her _wand_.

Hermione stared at her, torn between the sides of her mind that screamed that his woman in green was _absolutely mad_ and the other part that whispered that what she said was _true_ , that all those weird instances had not been her imagination, but _magic._

"the books used to fly off the shelves." She whispers without thinking, her eyes locked on the teacup-that-used-to-be-a-mouse. _Such a Ravenclaw,_ McGonagall thinks to herself, _making books fly._

"Yes, accidental floating, changing size or color, such things like these are indicators that a child has magical ability." The Professor explains.

"Your books used to _fly?_ " Clearly, this was not Mr. Granger's best afternoon.

"If they were too high to reach they would sort of float down to me." Hermione said weakly."Mum was there that time the toy across the room was in my hands without me having actually moved."

"Not uncommon in our world at all." McGonagall smiles, and stands. "i'm afraid that I must be leaving now. I hope that you will think over the information I have given you. We await your answer no later than July 31st."

Hermione slides off the couch in an instant. "I'll show you out."

As McGonagall stood on the doorstep about to leave, Hermione spoke. "Professor," She said hesitantly, eyes darting around. "There are more like me right? Children from people who can't do magic."

"Of course. You are not in any way alone, Miss Granger."

She looked up at the professor. "There's a friend of mine, he does these things too. The magic, I mean. It's different of course, what he does though. He ended up on the school roof once, appeared in my garden after being caught by some bullies."

"There is another in your neighborhood." McGonagall admits, staring worriedly down at Hermione. "I however, cannot tell you their name for privacy reasons."

She grinned up at her future professor. "Don't worry, Professor. I already know it's him. I just wanted to check."

 _Slytherin, this girl_ , McGonagall thinks instantly, never having been so sure in her entire life.

* * *

 _Word Count:_ 1138

 _Published_ : 12/23/15

 _Edited:_ -


	3. II

**Chapter Two**

" _Somewhere in the middle:_

 _a girl falls in love with an angel._

 _Wings tipped gold and prayers_

 _in their blood-stained kisses._

 _Even God is laughing now."_

— _excerpt from "_ _piety_ " _,_ _MJ_

* * *

Hermione made no mention of Hogwarts or magic or anything of the like the next time she'd seen him, only informed him of her acceptance to a boarding school in Scotland. Harry had simply muttered noncommittally, and slumped lower in his seat in the library. He wasn't looking forward to being alone and the loss of the ability to manipulate his relatives. Harry Potter , was, in short, lamenting his loss of freedom.

It turned out, he rather didn't need to. His letters had come and Vernon had freaked out, and off to the little rock in the sea they went. Moving past Hagrid's arrival and Dudley being gifted with the tail of a pig and Vernon throwing _another_ tantrum over the fact that ' _Magic doesn't exist!',_ Harry also found himself accepted to a boarding school in Scotland.

Not, however, the same one Hermione was going to, he thinks. Well, if he was to be honest with himself, Harry desperately hoped that she was a witch. If he was magic then , well, she _had_ to be.

And Harry, of course, was in no way wrong. So when Hermione appeared in front of the compartment doors with a knowing smirk on her face and a mischievous twinkle in her eye, Harry really out not to have been surprised. But he was, and Hermione expected that.

"Hermione? But- what- how…" He sat gobsmacked.

"As if I would leave you alone, Harry. Now help me move my trunk."

The dark haired boy shook off his surprise because really, Hermione a witch? As if she'd be anything but.

"One of the professors came by my house in May," Hermione starts once the two have gotten settled, "And she told me about Hogwarts and magic and honestly, what _normal_ child makes their books _fly?"_ She said exasperated, and together the eleven year olds hefted her trunk up onto the rack. She slumped into the seat next the window, across from her friend.

"I've been reading about the castle," she starts off, watching the English countryside race past. "It's _fascinating_ really. At least a thousand years old, and Muggles can't find it at all." Her eyes glinted as she turned to Harry. "No Dursleys for a year."

Harry cracked his own grin at Hermione.

"They sort us somehow, the book didn't say. But we go into one of four Houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. We're apparently sorted based on the traits we value most. Hufflepuff is for those who are kind and hardworking," She snorted a bit at that, thinking of all the times she had taken revenge on Dudley Dursley. She wouldn't exactly call herself _kind_ or anything.

"You go to Ravenclaw if you like wisdom and learning and such. I quite like the sound of that, really. Can you imagine? We'd be in a group of people who like to learn, we would learn so much about magic and this entire world we never knew about."

Harry shrugged, he wasn't sure if he would really fit into that house. Hermione certainly, she was a shoe-in if he'd ever met one. But him? So far, he was more likely for Hufflepuff.

"Gryffindor, they sound overrated to be honest. Bravery, chivalry? Like knights, wouldn't you say?"

"I think it would be cool to be known for your bravery."

"True. But the books made it sound like they were kings and queens over everything! reminds me of Dudley, thinking he's better than us." Hermione sighed. "He wasn't- _isn't,_ we have _magic_ Harry. We can do _anything_."

Harry looked at Hermione, really looked at her for the first time in a while. Her naturally wavy hair was frizzed around her head, she was leaning forward in her seat, hands braced against the edge and feet barely scraping the floor. Her eyes were alight, and she looked to Harry like a crazed fanatic. A _brilliant_ crazed fanatic.

"Anything?" He asked. She was right. They had _magic_ , what did the Dursley's have? In seven years he could be free of them, and though seven years seemed like a short time, it wasn't. He had seven years to change everything, to become _better_ than fat old Uncle Vernon and nutty Aunt Petunia and piggy little Dudley. He was _inherently_ better, but as Hermione had told him once before, natural talent only gets you halfway, you have to work for the other 50%. And learning magic? That didn't sound like hard work at all. it sounded more like _fun_.

"Anything." Hermione granger confirmed, and Harry grinned at her.

"And the last house? You said only three of four."

Her eyes glittered. "Slytherin. Favours _determination_ and _ambition_ and _cleverness_. Somewhere I think we might fit in. You're determined to get away from the Dursleys, I'm clever."

"Sounds good to me." He answers and the compartment door opens and both Hermione and Harry's heads swivel to the doors and to a tall, thin redhead.

"I heard _Harry Potter_ is on board!" He said loudly, spittle flying with every word. "I've checked _every_ compartment, but he's not _here_!"

Hermione side-eyed her friend, and looked back at the redhead. "Sorry, he's not here. I think I saw him move towards the front though, a little while ago."

The redhead looked delighted. " _Really?_ Thanks!" He sped off.

Harry turned to Hermione after the boy has disappeared off down the hall of the train carriage. "Who was that?"

Hermione sighs. "Ron Weasley if I'm not wrong. I ran into his brothers when I got on the train. Two redhead twins, mentioned something about 'Ickle Ronniekins' running around looking for Harry Potter. So…" She shrugs, gesturing loosely.

The sound of the compartment door opening once again drew their attention away from the redhead boys.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Harry and Hermione, both having grown up as Muggles and never having seen Wizarding candy before, stared apprehensively at the assortment of sweets.

"My parents wouldn't want me to have so much sugar." hermione said weakly.

Harry gave her a wicked grin, dropping a handful of coins into the trolley lady's waiting palm as he took a bit of everything off the cart. "Well, it's a good thing they aren't here then, isn't it?"

Hermione didn't answer, only stared as Harry dropped the candy on the table. "I really shouldn't."

"Best way to start learning about the Wizarding World is seeing what they eat." He pointed out, having what he liked to call a Granger Moment.

She laughed at that, "Well, when you put it that way..."

The chocolate frogs were rather odd, and Bertie Botts a source of endless wonder for the two of them ( _Earwax? Really?_ ). The pumpkin pasties were gone too fast for their liking, however.

* * *

 _Words: 1119_

 _Published: 01/30/16_

 _Edited: -_

* * *

 **SmileSimplify:** Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter!'

 **rebelsaurus29:** Thank you :)

 **Guest:** This won't be a Harmony story, I can tell you that. It will be endgame Dramione more than likely (sorry for anybody who is put off by that), but I haven't yet decided what to do with Harry. I'll probably figure it out along the way.

 **SereniteRose:** Dark and powerful hermione is my absolute favourite as well! I had read all the ones I could find, so I figured I might as well write my own lol.

 **aeireis:** Thank you!

 **EssTheDreamer:** I fixed the format, so I hope you got a chance to read it!

* * *

 _Thank you to everyone who read! I'll see you guys next time! (Which will hopefully be sometime within the next month, as I don't have a set updating schedule, and these are usually posted right after I write them or I'd sit on it forever and never publish it.)_


	4. III

**Chapter Three**

 _"what do you want to tell me? the woman asks._

 _the snake pauses._

 _nothing, he says. you are a poet. you will find it all out_

 _soon enough."_

 _— excerpt from "_ _persuasion_ _",_ _Kira Tang_

* * *

The train ride ended soon enough (and by soon enough, I mean after nearly 6 1/2 hours), and Hermione was pushing her way off the locomotive and into the throng of black clad students. She's changed into her robes nearly two hours ago, and decided she'd have to become accustomed to the skirt. She was more of a pants kind of person herself, but it was nice all the same.)

"Firs' Years! Firs' Years!" A loud, booming voice called out above the chatter of the students on the platform, and Harry tugged on Hermione's sleeve to pull her towards him as he moved towards the voice.

The two ended up in a throng of other eleven year olds, standing next to blond boy and his two hulking friends (or were they bodyguards?). Hermione craned her next to stare at the massive man in front of her.

"That's Hagrid. He picked me up from the Dursleys." Harry informed Hermione, and the blond boy's head snapped towards the duo.

"We meet again." he grins.

"Hello, I never did find out your name in the shop." Harry says, smiling at the first person he'd talked his age after finding out he was a wizard.

"Draco Malfoy, pleased to meet you." The boy stuck out his hand and Harry took it.

"I'm Harry Potter."

Draco looked taken aback, and looked at his two goons sharply as if to convey a message of '!'.

Hermione poked Draco in the arm. "Don't make a big deal. We already had one person terrorize us about Harry Potter."

Harry snorted. "I wouldn't call that terrorizing," he said.

Draco, thankfully, recovered quickly. "And who might you be?"

"Hermione Granger."

"It's nice to meet you, Hermione." Draco gestured to each of his bodyguards. "This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle."

Both boys grunted out hello's.

By the time their conversation had finished and introductions had been made, all of the first years had congregated around Hagrid.

"Well, all you here? Let's go!"

The man led them down a path, a twisting winding thing down to a lake. "Four to ah boat!" The man boomed.

Draco offered a hand to Hermione, and the two managed to not have the boat tip over as Harry scrambled in. A small, pointy girl climbed in, elbowing Goyle out of the way. The boy shrugged, and he and Crabbe went to find another boat.

Draco nodded to her, a quite "Parkinson."

The girl grinned in the darkness. "Hello, Malfoy."

"E'vrybody in? Alright, let's _GO_!" With that, the boats lurched forward over the lake.

Hermione had to admit, the sky above the lake was absolutely _gorgeous_. The stars twinkle above the landscape and she could have probably listed every last constellation in the sky if given the chance. Everything was so _clear_. She'd never seen anything like it.

And then the boats rounded a corner. Towering above the lake and the students all in the little boats stood Hogwarts Castle, balancing upon a hilltop, towers and courtyards and halls of wonder glittering with light. Nothing could have truly prepared Hermione fo the sight infront of her, and as she turned to Harry beside her, she realised that even meeting Hagrid hadn't begun to scratch the surface of what magic truly was now.

"Its _beautiful_." Hermione whispered, and Draco grinned.

"It is." Parkinson and Harry nodded their agreement.

The boats slid up to the shore, and Hermione tumbled out of the boat, helping to pull Parkinson (she really needed to find out the girl's name) and Harry out of the boat as well.

Hagrid let the throng of children up to a massive oak door, and banged on it. It creaked open to reveal a stern witch in green robes. A _very familiar_ stern witch in green robes.

"Professor McGonagall. She's the one who told my parents." She whispered to Harry.

Harry paused. "So I got the groundskeeper and you got an actual professor to tell you about magic?"

"That doesn't seem right." The young witch remarked. "Why would they send the groundskeeper to fetch their golden boy?"

Harry moved to answer, but was interrupted by the professor ushering all the students inside, and launching into a lecture about the four houses and what to expect with the sorting.

Not far aware, the same obnoxious redhead was blabbering on about what his brothers had said the sorting would be, freaking out some nearby girls.

"Do you really think its a _troll?_ " Harry asks

Hermione snorts. "As if. Who makes an 11 year old who doesn't know any magic yet fight a magical beast? That's ridiculous. It's probably some sort of quiz we have to to."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure to get in Slytherin." Draco smirks. "My whole family has been in it."

The redhead whipped around a the sound of the word 'Slytherin'.

"Ew," He sneered, "Who would want to join a House full of a bunch of _evil snakes?_ "

Draco, though physically smaller than the redheaded boy, managed to seem like he was looking down upon him.

"Red hair, hand-me-down robes? You _must_ be a Weasley."

"Blonde hair, permanent sneer, _you_ must be a Malfoy."

Draco grinned, a smug one that could only be perfected through innate ability or several hours in the mirror. "It's good that you know your betters weasley."

Weasley turned violently red and opened his mouth to retaliate but was cut off by the reentry of Professor McGonagall.

"The Sorting will now begin. When I call your name, please move forward and sit on the stool." The doors opened, and the anxious group was moved into a massive hall.

The dining hall, clearing, if the four long tables and students already seated upon them was anything to go by.

A tattered hat sat upon a stool in the middle of the hall, and startled nearly all of the first years when it started to sing.

Harry nudged Hermione with his elbow, 'a hat?' he mouthed

Hermione just shrugged. Why was it singing? _How_ could it sing in he first place? That, she decided, was worth looking into.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A mousy, brown haired girl scurried up to Professor McGonagall, and sat herself upon the stool. The Professor placed the hat on her head. After a few seconds of silence, the Hat called out "Hufflepuff!" and the girl was freed from the Hat and shooed off to the table on the far side of the hall, filled with students with yellow lined robes.

"So our House is chosen by a talking hat?" Hermione whispered to Harry, bemused. "Wizards really are strange, aren't they."

Harry just shrugged in response. In all fairness, he was kind of overwhelmed by everything. A talking Hat, floating candles, a life lived under lies that his parents were drunkards and good-for-nothings. It was a lot to take in at the moment.

"Bones, Susan" was next, following the mousy girl into Hufflepuff.

Both "Boot, Terry" and "Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw, amid polite applause from all the Houses. They were liked by all, it seemed to Hermione.

"Brown, Lavender" was the first to make it into Gryffindor, to loud, raucous applause by the Lions themselves, polite clapping from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and a spattering of sneers from Slytherin. Some, though, clapped nonetheless.

"Bulstrode, Millicent", walked to the Slytherin table under the sound of _booing_. Two redheads, the Twins that has all but ambushed Hermione on the train earlier stood on the benches of the tabled and booed an 11 year old as she did what could only be considered a Walk of Shame.

Hermione, to say the least, was disgusted, and when she glanced at Harry, she could see the corners of his lips pull up in revulsion.

"Corner, Michael." went to Ravenclaw, and both "Crabbe, Vincent" and "Davis, Tracey." were harassed on their way to Slytherin.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin" was the fourth to Hufflepuff, and "Finnigan, Seamus" was the first boy to Gryffindor.

"Goldstein, Anthony" to Ravenclaw and "Goyle, Gregory" to Slytherin and then it was "Granger, Hermione".

She would deny to anyone who would ever dare to bring it up that she was shaking, but she could feel her limbs rattle as she approached the stool. She knew that it was utterly ridiculous to be scared of a cloth _hat_ , but still, whatever word was about it come of of the hats-could she even say mouth?- would decide the rest of her life.

She sat gingerly upon the stool, still looking at Harry out of the corner of her eye. He threw her a smile and a sneaky thumbs up, and she relaxed just a bit. Whatever happens now, whatever the Hat says, she would still have Harry.

McGonagall placed the Hat on her head, and she tensed.

 _Hello there, Hermione Granger_ a voice whispered in her ear.

"So, uh, how does this work?" She mumbled under her breath. Really, she just wanted this over and done with.

 _I'm just going to have a peek inside your mind, decide where best to place you._

 _'_ You can read my mind?' She thought forcefully, if one can even do such a thing.

The Hat chuckled- can Hats even chuckle? Hermione really needed to figure out how this Hat worked.

 _Yes, I can. Now, Miss Granger, you would most certainly make a fine addition to Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff, I think, is not a House that would suit you._

Ravenclaw was nice, yes, a second option if she ever needed one, but just that: a second option.

 _Gryffindor, quite possible, quite possible indeed. Would you like to be seen as brave, Miss Granger? I think you might._

Oh, would she. But she wasn't here to be _brave_ , she was here to _learn_. To learn and to live and to _conquer_. Julius Caesar, brave he may have been as a soldier, but his hand at politics, his ambition, it was made him dictator of Rome. Veni, vidi, vici. He would live by those words, and the wizard word would become to the new rome.

 _Well, clearly not Gryffindor, then._

Oops, she forgot the Hat could read her mind. It seemed to sigh in resignation, before muttering,

 _Slytherin then, is what you have your heart set on?_

What else?

 _You no doubt know of their prejudice against you, are you willing to weather that storm for your goals?_

"Determination. Is that not a value you said they possessed?" She said quietly.

 _So bet it. Good luck, Miss Granger._

"Slytherin!"

There was booing as McGonagall, with a strained smile, lifted the Hat off her head and she made her way to the table of green.

"Welcome to Slytherin." an older girl offers to her as she sits at the table, sliding onto the bench next to who she believed to be "Bulstrode, Millicent." Or perhaps "Davis, Tracey"? She wasn't quite sure.

The next girl, "Greengrass, Daphne" followed her to SLytherin, and Hermione offered her a tentative smile.

"Longbottom, Neville" tried to run off with the Hat after being sorted into Gryffindor along with "MacDougal, Isobel".

"Macmillan, Ernest" became a Hufflepuff, and then Draco was up.

If 11 year olds could _swagger_ , that is what Draco Malfoy did as he approached the Hat. Professor McGonagall needn't have even let go for the Hat before it called out _'Slytherin!_ ' and Draco once more swaggered his way over to the table. He sat next to Hermione, across from of of the large boys. Either Crabbe or Goyle, Hermione really couldn't tell.

A thin, mousy boy named "Nott, Theodore" joined the Parkinson girl (Her name was Pansy, she now knew)that Hermione had met on the boats at the table where Hermione sat. She moved over until she was sandwiched between Millicent and Draco. She didn't pay much attention to the three girls before Harry. (She lied: 1 ravenclaw, 2 gryffindors).

"Potter, Harry" McGonagall called out.

The Hall went dead silent.

Hermione stopped breathing. This was it. This was the moment that would cement _everything_.

"Slytherin!"

Harry jumped off the stool, and the Hall neither clapped nor booed, frozen in shock. The Slytherins looked at each other, bewildered, eyes following the unruly-haired boy as he made his way to the table of green.

If the entire Slytherin House could agree on one thing at this particular moment, it would be this: History had been made.

Harry squeezed in between Tracey and one of the boys, right across from Hermione.

"We did it." he grinned, a genuine smile, eyes crinkling at the corners as he looks at his best friend, looked at the green on his robes that matched the green on hers.

"We did it." She echoes, mind at a standstill. She wanted to cry. They had done it, they had stayed together and make it to Slytherin and they were going to be okay.

She would never admit to the fear she had about her and Harry getting split up. What would she do without him? Though perhaps what would _he_ do without _her_ would be a better question.

"I can't say I expected this." Draco says, looking at Harry. "A Potter, in Slytherin."

Harry looked at his new friend? acquaintance? curiously. "Why, is that surprising?"

Draco looked at him strangely. "You _do_ know that your entire family was Sorted into Gryffindor, right?"

Harry cast a mildly panicked look at Hermione. No, he did not know. Not at all.

Hermione really had hoped they'd be able to keep the whole Muggle thing under wraps for a little while longer. The books on Hogwarts hadn't failed to mention the Slytherin's prejudice against Muggles and Muggle-borns.

She didn't say anything as "Thomas, Dean" was sorted into Gryffindor, and "Turpin, Lisa" into Ravenclaw. How much easier her life would be if Harry and her had just agreed to go to Ravenclaw together.

That horrid redhead boy from the train getting Sorted momentarily distracted Draco from what was going to be a _very_ interesting conversation.

it wasn't until "Zabini, Blaise"had joined them at Slytherin that Draco really put Harry, and by extension Hermione, on the spot.

"Did whoever raised you _really_ raise you without talk of Houses?" Draco looked like he could barely comprehend such a notion. "Every wizard knows what House they'll be in before they are Sorted."

"I didn't grow up learning this stuff. Its all new." Harry said awkwardly, trying to skirt the edges of the conversation.

"What does that mean?"

Hermione sighed. She may as well rescue Harry from Draco's clutches.

"What Harry is trying to say, is that he doesn't know anything about the Wizarding world." she said stiffly. "We grew up with non-magic folk, with Muggles."

* * *

 _Words: 2440_

 _Published: 03/04/16_

 _Edited: 03/05/16 (fixed mistake with Ernie Macmillan's House - thanks SmileSimplify for catching that!)_

* * *

Thank you too the following for taking time to review!: **TheFlamingArrows, bellqrke, Beautiful-Tyrant77, all four Guest reviewers, , Hope and Chocolate, SmoothFluffle, Kyonomiko, SmileSimplify, almac1991, EssTheDreaner, JuliSt, Strayedwolf94** and **sakura-moonrose-hime.**

For those of you wondering who I will pair Harry with, I offer you this: They're 11. I have some time before I have to marry off my firstborn son.

If you'd like to talk about WITS or any of my other stories or really anything at all, you guys can drop by my tumblr AvadaKedavraProductions.


	5. IV

⓸

 _The Devil merely smiled, mouth full of shards of broken glass, with icy stars in his eyes_

 _and asked her where she was going_

 _and if she had room for another weary traveler._

 _ **-Azona**_

* * *

The table froze. Nobody was really sure how to think, much less react.

Theo looked at Hermione. The Potters were a known Wizarding family. Which left only one conclusion for Hermione. A conclusion the rest of the table seemed to have arrived at.

A seventh year at the far end of the table broke the silence. "House over blood."

"I agree." The girl across from him thumped her hand on the table, startling the rest of her housemates. "House over blood."

The students dressed in green started to murmur, with many agreeing.

"She wouldn't survive without us," One says, "With all the other Houses against us anyway."

"The first Slytherin mudblood in over a century? She'd be dead before Christmas." Another remarked.

"Let's not forget, she brought us _Potter_." The first boy who had spoken says, and all the students turn to look at the black haired-first year.

"She doesn't know anything about our culture, which can be a problem." A fourth year mutters.

"We'll teach her." A girl says confidently. "I'll do it myself if I have to. She's one of us, and I for one am not leaving her to the metaphorical wolves."

"They're not metaphorical." One boy comments. "They're called lions."

The table pauses to laugh, then returns to the matters at hand.

"All in favor?' The first boy says once the laughter dissipated.

Nearly, if not every single person at the Slytherin table pounds one fist against the table. The other tables look over in alarm, and even the teachers look interested in the sudden noise. Except, of course, for one Professor Severus Snape.

A Muggleborn in Slytherin? It could present some problem with his snakes, he knew, but the pounding on the table signaled an almost unanimous agreement, sending a signal to Snape, and to each other, _this girl is one of us, blood be damned._

Hermione looked around the table, and grinned. This was Hogwarts, this was home now. She had magic and Harry and everything she could have ever dreamed of, and if she had to study a little more to bring herself up to date on Wizarding culture, well, nobody ever called her a bookworm for nothing. .

The feast passed quickly after the decision, and the prefects, Gemma Farley and Miles Bletchley, led the first years from the Great Hall down into the dungeons, a maze of lefts and rights until the students arrived in a hallway, save for a tapestry of some long-dead wizards at the end. Gemma turned around to face the ragtag group of firsties.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin House dormitories. The password chances once a fortnight, so be sure to check the notice board. Now, no other House has seen the inside of our common room in over seven centuries, and I expect you all to uphold that. The password is 'Janus'." At the word, the stones on the wall sunk back into themselves, much like the archway into Diagon Alley.

Gemma led the firsties in, and the group got their first look of their new home. And, if Hermione was asked to describe it then and there, all she would be able to manage would be a breathy _'exquisite_.'

The students stood on a raised platform, two roaring fireplaces on either side of the empty space where the entrance to the Common room is. Both held portraits upon the mantle: the one on the left contained a portrait of Salazar Slytherin; the other, one of the Baron dei Coltelli, who, as Hermione would find out soon enough, was more commonly known as the Bloody Baron, Slytherin House ghost.

The platform led a couple steps down into the main part of the commons, filled with soft green couches and dark wood tables, already filled by many older students catching up with each other after the summer apart.

The opposite wall was stone for maybe four feet up before it turned to glass, looking up into the depths of the black lake. The glass covered the ceiling so no matter where you stood, you could always see into the lake. There was another raised platform nearest to the windows, filled with desks and lamps, clearly an area for studying. On either side of the room rose up two staircases, leading onto a wrap-around balcony. There were five doors on the main level, underneath the balconies, and three on top. Silver lanterns hung around the room, attached to the glass ceiling and to the underside of the balcony near the doors to the dorms.

Gemma let the new students take a moment to absorb the greens and silvers and dark woods of the common room. "The girls dormitories are to the left, and the boys to the right." she gestured accordingly.

"The first years are in the room behind the first door under the staircase. Then second, third, up to fourth. The fifth doors are smaller, private study rooms on neither side. On top of the balcony are the rooms for fifth, sixth and seventh years."

"Go ahead and explore a bit, we'll call you back here in a little while so Professor Snape can give his welcome back speech." Miles Bletchley shooed them off, and the girls immediately parted from the boys to explore their rooms.

Pansy made it to the door first, thrusting it open.

The room was circular, five four poster beds spread out in a semicircle. Each bed held an armoire and a bedside table, and on the walls on either side of the door held five desks for individual use of each of the girls. Trunks already lay at the foot of each bed, and Pansy threw herself onto the first bed she came to.

Daphne took the one to her right, and Hermione the one on the far right end, next to Daphne. Millicent ended up on the other side of Pansy, then Tracey at the other end.

"I'm _exhausted_." Pansy complains, voice muffled by the pillow. "Thank _Merlin_ its _Saturday_ , so we have a day before term starts for real."

"Here, here." Tracey mumbles, stretched out across the bed.

Hermione nods in agreement, before starting to unlatch her trunk to unpack.

"It'll be nice to be able to walk around the castle before classes start." She says, starting to carry her new robes to the armoire. Daphne rolls off her bed and pokes Pansy to get up before they too start unpacking. Eventually, the five girls are done unpacking, book bags lying ready on desks chairs. An upper-class girl knocks on the door before pulling it open slightly.

"The meeting is set to begin," She says. "Come on now."

The five girls follow her out, and instantly mesh together with the huddle of first year boys. Harry and Hermione move to stand next to each other at the back of the group.

"The room is amazing," He whispers. "Things are looking up, wouldn't you say?"

Hermione just laughs under her breath. "I should hope so. We chose Slytherin for a reason, Harry."

Harry could not respond, for in that moment Professor Snape made his appearance.

"Welcome back, students, to Slytherin House. For those of you who have forgotten all you have learned in your months frolicking about, you are lucky enough to have a day of revision. For our new," here, Snape paused, as if contemplating his next choice of words. " _Blood_ , welcome to Slytherin House. We are a House that prides itself of cleverness and ambition, and I expect to see that in your seven years here. If not. "He sighs, "then you are complete and utter dunderheads and I have wasted yet more of my life attempting to educate you so that you may hopefully become a functioning member of society."

Professor Snape looked at all the students assembled before him, eyes lingering much longer on Hermione, and longer still on Harry.

"Do not disappoint me. You are dismissed." The professor left, and the older students dispersed once more, but the prefects kept the first years on two of the couches.

"A couple rules for you that the Professor leaves us to mention to you." Miles explains the reason for keeping them longer.

"First off, if you have an issue with someone else in the House, it stays in the common room. We're attacked on all sides outside of it. We either put up a united front, or the rest of Hogwarts rips us to little bits." Gemma says bluntly.

 _United we stand, divided we fall,_ Hermione thinks.

"Pretty much. You're welcome to take books from the shelves," Miles gestured to the cases lining all of stone walls." but please return them eventually. Some of the upperclassmen offer tutoring, and always check the notice boards every day. We have House meeting each month, so check for the dates."

"Listen to the upperclassmen, and try not to get caught walking alone. The Gryffindors especially won't hesitate to ambush you."

"If you have any questions, come see a prefect, or anyone really." Gemma shrugs, before pointing to Harry and Hermione. "You two will be assigned an upperclassman to help you to navigate, well, really the Wizarding world in general. We'll tell you tomorrow who they are. I'd recommend getting some sleep tonight, so you have all day to get familiar with the castle before classes. Dismissed."

The ten first years split up, and Hermione waved goodnight to Harry. Maybe she' be able to get a moment with him tomorrow to really talk.

But for now, she was content to change into her pajamas and curl up under the covers, falling asleep to the sound of the water against the glass ceiling of the room.

* * *

 _Words: 1615_

 _Published: 04/16/16_

 _Edited: -_

* * *

Thank you to the following for taking the time to review!: **SereniteRose, carick of hunter moon, SmileSimplify, JuliSt, almac1991, Sora Loves Rain, madval29, ksouza3, Kyonomiko, kadalina69, Koboi Labratories** (long live the Fowls) **, Beautiful-Tyrant77, harrysuckindraco, Maree3702** and **quadjot**.


	6. Not A Chapter

Chapter Text

Hi everyone! So as you can see, this is very clearly Not A Chapter. And to be very clear and distinct, there will not be any more chapters, either.

At least, not for Written In The Stars. The simple fact is this: the story did not start off in such a way that would allow me to reach the desired end without totally changing the characters midway through.

And so, I came to a conclusion: I would rewrite WITS with the desired characterization from the beginning, and simply re-publish as a completely different story.

As soon as chapter one of the new version goes up, this story will be taken down.

If you should choose to read the rewrite, you may find some passages pulled directly from this version, pieces I chose to keep. Props to those who recognize them.

I thank you for your understanding, and hope to see you in the comments section of the new version in the future.

(I also apologize for the original format of this message. That's what happens when you copy directly from ao3.

-dearestpersephone


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